48 groups urge Lula to regulate Big Tech after election

By Tom Whitfield

Forty-eight civil society organizations have asked the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to advance Big Tech regulation in Brazil, saying this year’s elections exposed concentrated platform control over what circulates online and who can speak.

The open letter says the elections “escancararam,” or exposed, how platforms operate: companies hold concentrated power to decide what circulates and who can speak in the digital environment.

The letter states: “A democracia venceu. Agora é hora de dobrar a Meta”—“Democracy won. Now is the time to hold Meta accountable.”

What do the 48 organizations demand?

The signatories say the moment has come to “adotar medidas concretas para democratizar as comunicações, garantindo plena liberdade de expressão, reduzindo a concentração de poder das grandes plataformas digitais e construindo alternativas próprias”—to adopt concrete measures to democratize communications, guarantee full freedom of expression, reduce the concentration of power held by large digital platforms and build their own alternatives.

Among the signatories are CTRL+Z, Coalição Direitos na Rede, DiraCom, NetLab of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Sleeping Giants Brasil, Greenpeace Brasil and Federação Nacional dos Jornalistas (Fenaj).

The document says its recommendations aim to guarantee greater transparency from the platforms.

Takeaway: The letter turns a demand for platform accountability into specific proposals for greater transparency.

What did the elections reveal?

The letter says: “As eleições brasileiras foram marcadas por casos explícitos de censura e manipulação do debate público, especialmente pela Meta e outras plataformas digitais.” It describes explicit censorship and manipulation of public debate, especially by Meta and other digital platforms.

It names “o próprio presidente Lula, jornalistas, artistas e inúmeros usuários” as affected, saying their content lost reach or their posts and accounts were restricted.

The organizations call the election-period episodes “inaceitável,” or unacceptable. They say Brazilians were “silenciados e restritos sem explicações e sem direito a defesa”—silenced and restricted without explanations or a right to a defense.

Takeaway: The complaint centers on platform control over political reach and access to speech.

What is the letter asking Lula to do?

During his victory speech last month, Lula said Brazil would regulate social networks. The signatories say the government must now “passar do diagnóstico às respostas”—move from diagnosis to action.

They say civil society submitted proposals from the 2022 government transition through the final year of the mandate, but no progress has occurred to date.

The letter proposes four main actions:

• Present a Medida Provisória (MP) for regulating digital services, focused on transparency, due process and enforcement.
• Install a government-coordinated working table with civil society to address short- and medium-term priorities.
• Make “soberania digital popular,” or popular digital sovereignty, a central government agenda.
• Adopt an internet-autonomy plan with defined goals, responsibilities and resources.

Takeaway: The proposal pairs interim digital-service rules with a longer-term plan for internet autonomy.

What is the TSE considering?

The organizations are seeking additional signatures while the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE) judges a case filed by Lula’s campaign against Meta, the company responsible for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. The campaign alleges interference in the distribution of political and electoral content during the presidential contest.

In October, the TSE ordered Meta not to artificially limit the reach of publications about Lula or Flávio Bolsonaro (PL). It also barred the platform from favoring any candidate through its artificial-intelligence tools.

Takeaway: The next stage is government action on digital-services rules and a TSE ruling on Meta’s control of political reach.